December 5: Via Campesina International Food Sovereignty Day to Cool Down the Earth

STOP THE 1% FROM PROFITING FROM POLLUTION!
LIFT UP COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS THAT COOL THE PLANET!

GGJ and La Vía Campesina are calling on all members and allies to mobilize on Saturday, December 3 under the banner of “1000 DURBANS FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE! STOP THE 1% FROM PROFITING FROM POLLUTION, LIFT UP COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS THAT COOL THE PLANET!” Continue reading →

With its six caravans, La Via Campesina and its allies will propose alternatives to the climate crisis and to the lack of responsible agreement between governements. The caravans will stop at various places of peasant, social and environmental struggles, as well as at the world alternative Forum and for a large demonstration taking place in Cancun as well as in the rest of the world, on December 7th.

(Ciudad de México, November 28th) «The sixth Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 16) is already seen as a failure that will affect the future of humanity, as its only result will be to strenghthen the intention of TNCs to divert money away from the climate crisis» stated Alberto Gomez from La Via Campesina international coordination.

[Cochabamba, 20 April, 2010] This morning Itelvina Masioli, a Brazilian leader of the international peasant movement La Via Campesina, spoke at the inauguration of the People’s World Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth. Bolivian President Evo Morales was the keynote speaker to the crowd of several thousand.

The conference, organized by the Bolivian government after countries failed to agree on a plan to stop climate change in Copenhagen last December, is being held from April 19 thru 22. Its goal is to amplify the voices of those who were not heard in Copenhagen.

“We are here together with President Evo Morales to play an active role in this grand global mobilization in Defense of Mother Earth,” said Masioli. “Our planet is in danger, and if our planet is in danger, then life is in danger.”

(Cochabamba, April 17 2010) Peasants women and men from farmers organisations throughout the world, members of La Via Campesina, celebrate the 17th of April as the International Day of Peasant Struggle, and reaffirm their vow to intensify the mobilization for the rights of peasants everywhere. To commemorate this date, delegates representing distinct countries, beginning at 11am, in the Plaza 14th of September, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, with the proposal that this date not be forgotten, and so that the struggle of peasants becomes stronger.

With delegates from throughout the world, the women and the men of La Via Campesina Bolivia commemorate the anniversary of the massacre of 19 peasants that fell struggling for access to land, in the state of Pará, Brazil in 1996. On April 17 1997, after three months of protest for the defense of Mother Earth and for the cultivation of the coca leaf in Bolivia, seven indigenous peasants, including a child and its mother, were massacred.

In Cochabamba, thousands of peasants from throughout the world are gathering at the beginning of the week to participate in the Peoples’ Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, invited by President Evo Morales. More than 300 members of La Via Campesina fom around the world will be participating. According to the organizers of the conference, more than 7,500 people have already registered for the conference. Additionally, about 3,000 peasants from La Via Campesina Bolivia are leaving their communities in order to defend peasant agriculture and climate justice.

Cochabamba, April 17 2010: Peasants, women and men from farmers organisations throughout the world, members of La Via Campesina, celebrate the 17th of April as the International Day of Peasant Struggle, and reaffirm their vow to intensify the mobilization for the rights of peasants everywhere. To commemorate this date, delegates representing distinct countries, beginning at 11am, in the Plaza 14th of September, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, with the proposal that this date not be forgotten, and so that the struggle of peasants becomes stronger.

With delegates from throughout the world, the women and the men of La Via Campesina Bolivia commemorate the anniversary of the massacre of 19 peasants that fell struggling for access to land, in the state of Pará, Brazil in 1996. On April 17 1997, after three months of protest for the defense of Mother Earth and for the cultivation of the coca leaf in Bolivia, seven indigenous peasants, including a child and its mother, were massacred.

In Cochabamba, thousands of peasants from throughout the world are gathering at the beginning of the week to participate in the Peoples’ Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, invited by President Evo Morales. More than 300 members of La Via Campesina fom around the world will be participating. According to the organizers of the conference, more than 7,500 people have already registered for the conference. Additionally, about 3,000 peasants from La Via Campesina Bolivia are leaving their communities in order to defend peasant agriculture and climate justice.

The International Peasant’s Movement La Via Campesina invites the media to a candle light vigil and symbolic action tomorrow 10 December 2009 at 6pm at Gammeltorv – Nytorv (Copenhagen city center).

Farmers from around the world are affected by climate change – droughts and floods are destroying their land and crops . But these farmers are also extremely seriously affected by the false solutions currently negotiated at the UNFCCC: carbon trading, land evictions in the name of REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), agrofuels, climate-ready genetically modified seeds…

Peasants and small farmers from Asia, Africa, America and Europe will light candles and stage a symbolic action to kick off their mobilizations in Copenhagen.

La Via Campesina is an international movement which brings together millions of peasants, small producers, landless people, agricultural workers and rural women and youth around the world. Our movement is made up of 150 member organisations active in 70 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.